VIDEO: New prostate cancer guidelines needed

Editor’s note: This is a previously posted video, and the below is an automatically generated transcript to be used for informational purposes. Please notify cperla@healio.com if there are concerns regarding accuracy of the transcription.

Current guidelines from the National Preventative Services Task Force recommend an individualized decision between the provider and the patient. And based on that decision, deciding on whether or not to proceed with screening. I do believe that this should be updated. I think that screening should be a little more clear on whether there's a benefit or there is no benefit to the patient. I think the way it is worded currently leaves the decision up to the patient and provider, and I think that causes some confusion as to the benefit of prostate cancer screening. So, I think that the organizations need to have a more clear stance. I think there's increasing evidence that there is a benefit to screening. We know that based on the European screening trial, that there's a clear survival advantage to patients who are screened. So I think overall, the guidance should be clearer on the benefit. And I think that we should have a clear message as to when to screen patients and how to screen patients. I also think that, with respect to how to screen patients, I think we should try to incorporate newer screening tools that have become available in the last several years. There have been additional serum and imaging tests that have increased the specificity of these screening tools for prostate cancer. We know that PSA has been criticized for being affected by conditions that are not cancerous, things like inflammation and enlargement of the prostate and an infection. And so that has put PSA as a screening tool into question. But I think the newer tools are more specific for prostate cancer, tools such as the 4Kscore, IsoPSA, prostate health index, and others that have been approved in this space. And also, there are improvements in imaging which can be potentially used to augment prostate cancer screening. Particularly, several centers have developed brief MRI sequences that can be used for screening, as well as newer ultrasound technologies, such as high resolution ultrasound, which may be used in the screening area, as well. So, I think that is how we can improve the messaging of screening and prostate cancer, but also how it is implemented.